


Ten Words to Make a Man

by hjork



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Remembers, Bucky Barnes's Trigger Words, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Definitions, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Poems, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Russian Bucky Barnes, Stucky - Freeform, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, definition poem, dictionary poem, russian brainwashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 15:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16935483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjork/pseuds/hjork
Summary: Ten words are all it takes to make Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier, but those ten words have deeper meaning than it would appear.(Conveyed through a series of definition poems.)





	Ten Words to Make a Man

**longing** /ˈlôNGiNG/i. you lie awake at night, his eyes dance in the darkness. ii. they tell you, the pain will end soon. you are helping a great cause. you are destined for things beyond your grasp. iii. the lies never end. iv. sometimes on the coldest days of winter you can still feel his hand on your shoulder, his lips brush your cheek. sunshine peers through the dusty curtains and you are still okay.

**rusted** /rəst/ i. the rains seep through the roof, despite your best efforts. the gentle drip, incessant, persistent, strips the gleam from polished metal. ii. funny how even the strongest steel still bleeds. iii. everyone breaks down, if you wait long enough.

**seventeen** /ˈsevənˌtēn/ i. you push him in a cart down a supermarket aisle, buying oreos at midnight. ii. laughter never sounds as good as echoing down a deserted street. iii. in that moment, it’s just him and you and the infinite stars.

**daybreak** /ˈdāˌbrāk/ i. you climb to the tallest peak and scream until your lungs ache. “come down from the roof,” he pleads. ii. the sun breaks across the horizon and blinds you. the golden light makes you forget how badly you want to feel alive. iii. as long as you don’t turn back, you won’t see how dark your shadow has become.

**furnace** /ˈfərnəs/ i. you stack the fuel with care, place every piece precisely, and touch match to paper. ii. it doesn’t matter how carefully you plan it. the fire is not discriminant. it all starts collapsing when the flame roars loud enough. iii. it is better to slam the door and let it burn than to stick your hand in and try to salvage what is already doomed.

**nine** /nīn/ i. always count the bullets in one-on-one combat. that way the enemy can’t surprise you. ii. so he counts: one, two, three, all the way to eight. iii. he had no way of knowing the ninth bullet would be seeing your eyes behind the mask.

**benign** /bəˈnīn/ i. you will not draw attention. you will not act unless instructed. you will not kill unless ordered. you will obey. ii. some tumors sit idle, a hidden parasite, invading the host undetected. iii. you are nothing until they need you. you will invade like a cancer when you are told. you are not in control.

**homecoming** /ˈhōmˌkəmiNG/ i. that’s all they ever talk about. what they’ll do when they go home. the girls, the food, the clubs. ii. you went to homecoming once, in high school. you took a nice girl and all watched the game, but it started raining and you went home with him instead. iii. he tries to picture the house he grew up in, but when he hears ‘home’, all he thinks of is you, you, you.

**one** /wən/ i. one more ride, you said, laughing, and you give the man your tickets and ride the coaster. when steve’s done barfing his guts out, you take a cab home and he reaches for your hand and doesn’t let go until you’re back inside the one room apartment. ii. one last time, you said, and he joins you for another failed double date. it’s your last night here, but he doesn’t bring it up, and lets you lose yourself in just one more drink after another. that night when you can’t stop throwing up into the toilet, he holds your shuddering body until you fall asleep. iii. one final test, they told you, and you grit your teeth and clench your fists and forget about all the other ones, because the one thing you ever wanted couldn’t hold on to you the one time you needed it most.

**freight car** /ˈfrāt ˌkär/ i. on your fourth mission, you are to assassinate a foreign dignitary on his way to Moscow. you wait patiently next to the tracks, but when you catch sight of the train, the world goes white and you are suddenly falling, falling, falling. ii. on your one hundred and seventy-fifth mission, you are pushed backwards off a balcony, and as you’re falling you swear you see a different man leaning from the window, screaming after you. iii. they run tests, wipe you clean, reprogram you. what they do not know is that every time you go to sleep you see him reaching for you in the snow as you fall, fall, fall. 

 

 

"Ready to comply." 

 

"Kill Steve Rogers."

 

The winter soldier blinks once. "It will be done."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a tumblr post with all these words and just thought "wow these would make great definition poems" and now here we are I wrote these instead of studying for finals. 
> 
> Hope these are as angsty as I wanted them to be. Thanks for reading! Leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed reading (or if you cried and you hate me). :))))


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